amhinyard:

neil’s friendships with the other foxes aren’t talked about enough…honestly. like, andrew is neil’s everything and nothing can ever change that, but how neil’s trust expands to the rest of them is so precious.

dan adores neil. she wishes he’d listen more in practice and on the court, but she wouldn’t change him for anything. not a trophy, not hundred of trophies, and she’d never go back to a time when life was simpler, when the foxhole court wasn’t a burrow for a skittish fox to hide in, when neil was all bad news and a grenade waiting to go off. when they were all close to being collateral damage in the explosion that followed neil’s truths. she loves him, truly, without failure. she loves his smile and the way he plays, like he wants to win it all for them. she loves how happy he is, despite his monster being a constant shadow at his side, she loves that neil has found someone to take comfort inc someone to make him stronger, and she’s proud of him for that

allison likes to sit beside neil and play with his hair. the first time he let her do it, her chest nearly exploded with the amount of adoration and affection that was swirling there, too powerful to be contained. she knows what trusting looks like, because it’s the the same way renee is with her, and she feels so privileged that neil trusts her too. now they sit and watch shitty movies together when they’re tired and even when her fingers cramp up, allison can’t bear to remove them from twirling lightly at his curls

matt and neil, bros. matt has loved neil since the moment he first laid his eyes on him, and he’s never stopped since. sure, neil can be an asshole and he sometimes avoids talking about how he really feels still, but matt loves him. and when he can peel neil away from andrew long enough, they talk about deep stuff, with neil and matt both opening up to each other. they play mario cart, because neil has never played and matt feels like he has a little brother. he feels so protective towards neil, like he wants to shelter him from the world, but he knows neil has to explore it all for himself, and he’ll always be there to offer a hand if neil stumbles

renee and neil do spend time alone, but mostly she tags along with both andrew and neil. and renee is very observant, she notices the way that neil — this broken boy who came to them every inch a mystery, every scar a story to be told, one foot out the door and his lips sewn shut — flourishes around andrew. he blooms like a flower, mid-spring, bright and breathtaking and she remembers thinking that neil wouldn’t be with them for long, but here he is, living and loving, all thanks to andrew and the rest of the foxes. she’s proud of herself, for that one

kevin may push neil hard sometimes, but he knows neil’s limits better than neil himself does. there are days where he knows neil can be pushed further, can be yelled at for longer, can be threatened with the weight of his deal with the moriyamas, you’ll never make court if you don’t get better. and there are days when he knows neil can’t take it, where he knows that any mention of his unknown future will snap neil in half, so he doesn’t push. he makes neil do the laps, the drills, the target practice and then he calls it off. days like these, neil gets rowdy, complains because he wants to blow off some steam, but kevin tunes him out and throws him a bottle of water, sitting on the court floor and waiting for neil to join him. when he does, they sit in silence. sometimes they talk, but mostly kevin waits for their breathing to slow before he gathers their things and drags neil back to andrew for the night

neil is able to forgive nicky for that first night at edens. nicky will always feel guilty, will always want to make it up to neil, but he’s smart enough to know that it’s alright, nicky. i forgive you is enough to say it’s over, don’t bring it up again and so he never does. he and neil form a nice, distant friendship. nicky doesn’t touch neil and neil doesn’t touch nicky in return, but there are days where neil will sit with him in the columbia house and they’ll laugh and joke and nicky will swear he didn’t know neil would have such an impact on his life, he’ll never remember what life was like before him, and he doesn’t want to. life without neil, even for a short time, felt cold and tasteless and the look on andrew’s face when baltimore happened told him he felt it too. he never wants to experience that again

neil and aaron tolerate each other, at best. and that’s all there is to say on that. they poke at each other and make sly remarks and sometimes they fight, and that’s the extent of their interactions

the beauty of it all is that people say you can’t choose your family but neil knows, you definitely can